Sure you don’t have ADHD?
Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
31–40 of 148 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#32I put on my headphones and blast music by Two Steps From Hell (Thomas Bergersen, Nick Phoenix).
Edit: A lot of people saying you might have ADHD. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion or worry about that. Don't spend time chasing down a diagnosis unless you really, really need the medical assistance. It's probably our modern attention economy: the Web has trained our brains to seek diversion after a few minutes. Call it ADHD if you will, but then pretty much everyone who spends time online has it. It's healthy and "normal" to take a breather / quick break every so often. It lets the mind decompress. The trick is training yourself to do it only when that break won't interrupt a deep stack in your brain that you have to spend a lot of time rebuilding later.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#33A tangential question. What exactly does it feel to be like in Adderall? I'm intimately familiar with the 15-minutes venture into Reddit/HN etc so if I were to, say, take Adderall, just what exactly inside me would change?
No ADHD diagnosis here, but to me amphetamine feels essentially the same as the feeling I get on a very productive day, only stronger and constant.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#34Practice long periods of not having stimulating activities around you. Just sit and be bored for a few hours at the end of the day.
This will increase your baseline dopamine for normal activities. When your baseline is too low, you self medicate by going on Reddit which spikes your dopamine for a while. Taking a break from stimulation lets your brain accumulate dopamine naturally
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#35Don't leave the desk for extended periods of time. You might not be able to control you mind but you certainly have more control over your body. Just take water, food anything you need and don't leave your desk for an hour. This can really help in the long run as slowly it becomes a habit.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#36Here’s a few things that I have found really helpful recently: 1. Put your phone in another room and only check it at scheduled periods. For me, after breakfast I put my phone out of sight until lunch and then back in the other room it goes until 3:30 PM. 2. Try to keep separate spaces for entertainment and focus. For example at your desk only do productive work like development or paying bills. If you want to watch…
Focus Toolkit episode: https://youtu.be/yb5zpo5WDG4
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#37So far, the solution that has worked for me has been Focusmate ( https://www.focusmate.com/ ). It's like Omegle for focus. Pick a time slot and pair up with someone to be accountable together. You can get more information on how it works here https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46624137 You can also book a session with me if you like. https://www.focusmate.com/i/nLUDAIR5oh/calendar
I've been curious about these kinds of services for a while. Genuine question: do you not end up just chatting with your paired partner?
So far it has not happened to me. You only speak before starting and at the end. During the session we both mute our microphones.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#38I don't anymore, because it hurts my eyes. Hour maybe, go for a walk, do another hour...
Hopefully my eyes clear up once I get a break.
Treat your body well, don't waste it making someone else rich. Besides, most of the time spent solving engineering problems is spent thinking. You don't need to do that at the keyboard.
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#39I have an insane amount of work to do, I cannot afford to not focus
Re: Ask HN: How do you focus on work for long periods of time?
#40I've found it harder to concentrate being back at the office more post pandemic. Since someone may always pop in to ask a question, the mind always needs to be in a kind of surface / ready state - able to quickly jump into a random topic. It generally seems easier to get into a flow state when working from home (or working from the office when no one else is there).